After closing her door, Jennifer leaned over and wrapped her arms around me in a fierce squeeze. She was trembling, adrenaline still coursing through her.
She said, “I thought you were dead or in the hospital. What happened? Why did Kurt call?”
I said, “Let’s get the hell out of here while we still can. I’ll tell you while we drive.”
I started the car and exited the parking garage. “Before that, though, what on God’s green earth was that Flying Wallendas bullshit back there? What were you going to do if you missed? Fall on top of his head?”
“No way was I going to miss. I told you, I used to do that stuff for a living. And somebody had to do something after your brilliant plan went to shit.”
“Touche. So we had to flex a little bit. All part of the strategy.” I grinned at her. “I will say that was some pretty switched-on thinking back there. Scared me to death, but worked out very well.”
I told her what had happened and my fears about the Taskforce.
Jennifer didn’t seem to buy the theory. “You were the one that said it couldn’t be the Taskforce. Now you think it is?”
“I can’t come up with any other explanation.”
“Why on earth would the Taskforce do that? What possible good would it do?”
“I have no idea, which is why I’m going to call Kurt right now. Where’s his number?”
Jennifer got out the number and dialed the phone, handing it to me.
I heard Kurt answer and said, “Guess you missed, huh, asshole?”
“Pike, is that you? What happened at Four Courts? Where are you?”
“You’ll find me soon enough, you son of a bitch. I still want to meet, but on my terms.”
“What’s your problem? What’s going on?”
“My problem is that you tried to fucking kill Jennifer and me. I’m willing to meet so you can tell me why. I’m sure there’s an incredibly good reason.”
“Have you lost your mind? Why the fuck would I do that?”
“Cut the shit. You were the only one who knew where we were meeting. You fed me that bullshit story about Ethan, then laid out the trap. I want to know why.”
“Pike, Ethan is dead.”
Kurt waited for me to say something, but his tone threw me off. He didn’t sound like he was playing a role. When I didn’t say anything, he continued.
“His whole family is dead. His older girl…”
“Emily.”
“Yeah, Emily, was tortured to death. Both her eyes were punctured and four fingers were cut off from her right hand. Ethan himself was missing an ear and had all of the skin flayed from both of his thighs. The wife and other daughter were tied up and shot in the back of the head. This wasn’t random. It had something to do with what you talked to him about.”
What he said left me speechless. I tried to process it but couldn’t.
“Pike? You still there?”
I refocused. “That’s still just a story from you. I don’t know it’s true. All I know is that only one person on earth knew where I was going, and I walked into an ambush.”
“There’s another explanation. Either your phone or my phone is being monitored.”
I considered this. “You still want to meet?”
“Yeah. Name the place.”
“Meet me in ten minutes at the last place we saw Billy Donatelli. You aren’t there in ten minutes I’m gone. You come to that place, alone. If you’re still a warrior, you’ll feel a set of crosshairs on your skull. If I see anything strange at all, anybody attempting to set up a long-range shot or ambush, I’m
“Yes. It’s understood. I’ll be there. Don’t turn the maintenance guy into the bogeyman.”
I pulled into our destination, parking the car and hanging up the phone.
Jennifer looked around, confused. “What are we doing at Arlington National Cemetery? Where’s the last place you and Kurt saw Billy?”
“Here. I was his troop sergeant major, Kurt was the commander of the Unit. He died in Iraq in 2004.”
77
Kurt hung up the phone, realizing that Pike had picked the perfect meeting location. One, the reference to Billy was something that only he and Pike would know. Two, it was close enough to the Taskforce — only a mile as the crow flies — that Pike could force a very short timeline, thereby preventing Kurt from setting up any type of trap if he was so inclined. Three, Billy’s grave would be in the middle of a vast expanse of white stones, no cover or concealment anywhere to hide a hit team. Four, the reservation was blanketed by patrols of either National Park rangers or military police, all investigating anything out of the ordinary in an attempt to prevent vandalism to the hallowed ground. Fifth, and perhaps most important, the location was sacred to both Pike and Kurt, and Billy’s headstone would send a message that some things were worth more than whatever politics Pike believed Kurt was involved in.
Kurt grinned in spite of himself, wondering how long it had taken Pike to think of it.
He hit the timer of his watch and set out at a trot to his car, yelling at the duty officer that he would be back in an hour.
Lucas and his team heard the entire exchange at the Crystal City office. Lucas knew there was no way to figure out where both of these guys last saw the man named Billy Donatelli. He would have to rely on the beacon embedded in Kurt’s pager. One thing was for certain: With two men in the hospital for a cracked skull and broken ribs, and two failed attempts, he wasn’t going to launch out of here at the first opportunity. Pike had proven that he could thwart even well-laid plans. Now that he knew he was being hunted, he would be treated like the threat he posed.
I stood still, looking but not seeing the cross bearing Billy’s name, my mind a thousand miles away on a combat action years ago.
When I looked up, Jennifer asked, “How did he die?”
“On an assault. Nothing big, nothing fancy. It was an assault like hundreds of others. This one happened to be a hornet’s nest.”
I changed the subject, not wanting to talk about it. “We need to find a hiding place so we can watch Kurt and whoever else might come in.”
I saw a knoll with a copse of trees about eighty meters away. It looked down on the site of Billy’s grave, with unobstructed views three hundred and sixty degrees. It would work.
“Come on, Kurt should be here soon. If anyone else is coming, they’ll be first, and we need to be hidden.”
Eight minutes later we watched a single individual advance to Billy’s grave. I recognized Kurt’s walk. Rolling over, I winked at Jennifer and said, “You see me drop, get out of here.”
She rolled her eyes, muttering, “Asshole. If I had any sense…”
I lost the rest, running out to meet Kurt. Within two minutes, he convinced me that he was telling the truth, which gave me no small amount of relief. Finding out he had turned would reset what I knew about the United States government and what we stood for, and that would have been as bad as the trauma I felt when my family died. I was just now beginning to believe again that what I had done with my life was worthwhile. A betrayal by Kurt would have crushed that forever.
After calling Jennifer, we got in the rental and exited Arlington. I asked Jennifer to drive, letting Kurt and me
